One Of The Best
by Serpentseeker
Summary: Written for a kink meme prompt. Three times Jim talked to the Enterprise and one time she talked back. Hints of Spock/Uhura and Sulu/Chekov.


The first time changed his life forever.

See, the thing is, after Pike's proposition, he drives around all night on his bike. Nowhere in particular, just coasting down a long dusty road until he hits crossroads; there he just randomly picks a side using the strangest of reasoning (_the right road looks nicer, my Dad was left-handed, there might be people down that road_...). He tries to create lists of pros and cons but he keeps forgetting his reasons and sometimes the reasons are both and neither at the same time.

As the first rays of sun begin to creep over the horizon he still has no idea what he wants to do, only that he has to decide quickly. With that in mind, he turns his bike around and heads to where he knows the shuttle is launching (everyone in Iowa knows where that is - they're building the new ship there and its the only thing people have been talking about for months).

It doesn't take him long to get there - Jim's spent half his life traversing the roads of Iowa, for varied reasons. And he's loath to admit it, but his first sight of the incomplete ship makes his breath catch in his throat. Its nothing spectacular - this site is a popular one for ship construction and this isn't the first incomplete ship he's seen. In fact - if town gossip is to believe - the construction of it (_her_, Jim reminds himself and has no idea why he's so adament) has been plagued with problems and Starfleet are considering scrapping her and starting anew. So not only is it the same-old, but it's a crappier same-old. But there's something about her that's flitting over the surface of his thoughts that dances away as soon as he tries to grab hold of it. Instead he gives up and watches the ship plod towards completion.

The sun is higher in the sky now and the sun's rays are making the metal skeleton shine in a way that makes Jim ache with want.

_Someday you'll be mine_, he thinks to himself - to her - and he'd feel stupid for being so cocky and optimistic but something feels right about it.

And so he starts up his bike again, points it at the entrance to the yard and gives himself over to what feels right.

xxxXxxx

He's been Captain for a week - proper Captain, Starfleet approved - when the thought hits. He's deep in his ship's labyrinthine depths when suddenly it occurs to him that he's the _Captain of the Enterprise_. People _know who he is_. People _expect things out of him _in a way no one has done before, except possibly Pike. But strangely the thought doesn't worry him as much as the thought that comes immediately after. That makes him wheeze like he's winded and sink to the floor.

He's a Captain of the Enterprise. He has a crew of over nine hundred people and the most valuable ship in Starfleet, not to mention probably the most well known in the Universe at this point. He has complete and utter responsibility for all these lives. Hundreds of people are looking to him to keep them safe and he has never considered something like this before. Jim feels sick, and for the first time is regretting his choice (that time he said it to Bones doesn't count - anyone would say they'd wished they'd never joined Starfleet after holding their friend's hair back while he vomited for half the night).

Jim sucks in a desperate breath and lets his head loll back on his neck to rest it against the wall.

"What am I going to do?" he says to no one._ Or maybe not quite_, he muses a few moments later. The ship - his ship - is listening quietly and patiently to him and right now talking to her seems the most logical thing to do.

She doesn't answer him, of course, but lets him know she's listening and she understands. And slowly he calms. It's hard not to, with the floor softly thrumming from the engines a few levels beneath his fingertips and the wall with paint so newly-applied it's still perfect.

This is all new for him, but he has the Universe's most awesome ship on his side, and the Universe's most awesome crew, too. He can do this.

With his new found confidence, Jim staggers to his feet (and this is nothing new to him either, he's done this his entire life) and strolls back the way he came. He has work to do.

Of course, that doesn't stop him from patting the wall as he rounds the corner and uttering a 'thanks' so soft, it could have been mistaken for an exhalation.

xxxXxxx

Of all the alien species they've encountered, The Vinnesahn win the title of most paranoid alien race hands down. It takes two hours for Uhura to negotiate permission for a team to beam down and once that's decided, they refuse to meet the team. Instead the team has to walk miles by themselves to the Vinnesahn village. If Jim had his way they'd skip the entire planet altogether but it's rich in some rare element that Starfleet are gagging for and only Chekov can pronounce successfully. That's mostly why the ensign is down there, with Spock and a team of redshirts.

The depth of Vinnesahn paranoia isn't revealed until after the away team has beamed down, when any sort of connection to the team simply vanishes. The monitors discretely keeping an eye on their health suddenly go blank and no matter how many times they try to reach them, all they get is silence.

Two hours later and everyone's on edge. When Uhura announces a message from the Vinnesahn leader Jim practically lunges across the room while everyone on the bridge tries to restrain the urge to follow suit. The Vinnesahn leader informs them that their team has arrived safely and negotiations will be beginning momentarily. That's the last they hear from the planet until two stressed-filled days later, when they receieve another message, this one ordering them to get their team off the planet, just phrased diplomatically. The negotiations are a success and Starfleet will be thrilled, but all Jim cares about is seeing his crew rematerialise on the transporter pad. He doesn't relax until they do - all five of them.

Uhura is at Spock's side as soon as the transporter has assembled him, cupping his face and kissing him desperately. Her hands shake as she does and Spock's eyes slowly drift shut in relief. The sight of them is both adorable and heart-breaking and everyone tries to find something else to look at.

Sulu has swooped down upon Chekov and is trying to discretely look him over so Jim heads over to the three redshirts and congratulates them on a successful mission. He even manages to hold back a congratulations for surviving - the redshirt myth has existed for years but he senses mentioning it would be in poor taste, and upon reflection, he's not amused anymore.

Later, after Bones has herded the away team into the sickbay and Nurse Chapel has herded everyone not in the away team out of it, Jim is in his room and grappling with his report. He's just finished writing it when he realises Starfleet will want security footage to back up his statements. Specifically footage of the transporter room and the arrival of the away team.

Jim thinks back to the heart-breakingly sweet kiss between Uhura and Spock and the way Sulu ran his hand down the slope of Chekov's neck and curses to himself. His mind, always absorbing and evaluating has him coming up with a plan within minutes.

He gets into the Enterprise's secruity system easily enough and reminds himself to do something about that, even as he's locating the footage causing the trouble. From there it's easy to remove a few seconds and replace them with a view from another camera. Jim watches the new footage over a few times to check it's all plausible and then begins to backtrack through the system, repairing everything he did to get in and adding a few more things. Even as he does he's thinking about how to make it more secure.

Once the last defense is up again he pauses with his hands over the keyboard. Then his mouth curls up into a smug grin and he pats the side of the monitor lovingly.

"We'll keep that between us, okay?" he murmurs to his beloved ship and although there's no audible or visual reply, he knows she approves.

xxxXxxx

He's lying in bed, warm and content and on the edge of sleep when he says it. Not for any particular reason, just because he thinks he should say it.

"You're one of the best things that ever happened to me."

He can't say she's the best thing because he's not sure if that's true. After all, there's Bones and Spock and his entire bridge crew and then the hundreds of crew trusting him with their oh so fragile lives everyday. Back on Earth there's Pike and on the new Vulcan planet there's the elder Spock. Jim loves all of these things equally and it would break his heart to chose an order of importance to him.

But his girl understands - she always does. Across the room his computer beeps and it could be a message or an alert and when he checks in the morning there's three waiting for him to read. But to Jim, warm and content and on the edge of the sleep, it sounds just like '_I love you'_.

And it's because that's exactly what the Enterprise meant.


End file.
